Galen

Galen (c. 129-210 CE) is considered to be the Father of Roman Medicine.
He was Physician to the Emperors Commodus, Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus.

Born 129 CE in Pergamon (Bergama, Turkey)
He studied Medicine from the age of 16 for 12 years.
By the age of 21 he had written 6 medical works, and specialised in the dissection of living animals.
Roman Law since 150 BCE, prohibited the dissection of human bodies. And it was considered unethical to practice on Human beings.
By working as a physician at the Gladiator School in Pergamon he became an expert in the treatment of injuries.

161 CE Galen moved to Rome, where his fame had preceded him.
He antagonised his fellow Physicians by accusing them of ignorance and greed, and through his arrogance, but was revered by his own patients.
He rose to the top of society by curing previously incurable patients.
To increase his public standing in Rome, Galen held public dissections on live animals.
Whilst in Rome, Galen made the majority of his important anatomical discoveries, mostly by dissecting living animals.
He cured Eudemus, the famed Philosopher who had been his tutor, by his use of the Prognosis.
This brought him into conflict with the established physicians who followed Erasistratus and used Divination for a Diagnosis.
Eudemus warned him that they would attempt to poison him, in order to protect their reputation,
as they had done to a previous physician 10 years earlier.
He became Physician to the Emperors Commodus, Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus.

It struck Rome in 166 CE.
It occurred during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, hence whose family name was Antoninus, hence it’s name.
It is considered to have been smallpox, from Galen’s descriptions.
It possibly caused the deaths of up to half the population of the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire never really recovered from this, as it affected the manpower of the Roman Legions and the Roman Navy.
It was the worst Pandemic in Rome’s history until the 3rd century CE, and probably triggered the beginning of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Prognosis:
- Galen believed in predicting the likely outcome of a disease: to Prognosticate.
- He opposed the use of Divination and Mysticism, and insisted on using observation and reasoning,
  before finalising his Diagnosis.
Live Dissection:
- He would dissect a live pig severing each nerve in its neck making the pig squeal loudly.
  When the nerve from the brain to the larynx was severed, the pig ceased squealing.
- This proved that the brain and not the heart controlled the ability to make sounds, disproving Aristotle.
Dissecting Barbary apes:
- He believed them to be very similar to humans, and he was able to identify and learn all the bones in the human body.
- He identified seven pairs of nerves originating in the brain.
- He proved beyond dispute, that arteries contained blood and not air, disproving 400 years of previous thinking.
The Circulatory system:
- He discovered that blood circulates and that it was regenerated in either the heart or the liver.
The Respiratory system:
- He would use bellows to inflate animal lungs.
The Nervous system:
- He realised the importance of the brain in controlling the functions of organs.
- He made these discoveries by dissecting the of nerves of living animals.
He was a skilled surgeon:
- He performed operations on the brain and could remove cataracts of the eye.

Valerian Extract:
- (from the name Valerius) Galen mentions this Herb whose roots are used to produce a sedative. It was known in Ancient Greece.

Galen wrote 500 books, all in Greek.
- He employed 20 scribes to write his works.
- Over half of Greece’s surviving literary output is attributable to Galen.